Systems and methods for creating and navigating broadcast-ready social content items in a live produced video

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for incorporating social content items into a produced video are provided. The system presents a producer interface to a user that allows the user to query for social content items. The user may then select and arrange social content items in an on-air queue. In an on-air mode, the system generates a broadcast-ready on-air format of the social content items and provides a video stream including the broadcast-ready social content items in the on-air queue to a video production system. The broadcast-ready social content items are incorporated into a produced video by the video production system. The user may navigate through the social content items in the on-air queue while on camera as part of the produced video.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/422,843, filed May 24, 2019, which is a division of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/465,667 (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,349,140), filedAug. 21, 2014, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/905,598, filed Nov. 18, 2013, the entire disclosuresof which are hereby incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

Currently, solutions for providing graphics in a produced video thatinclude information from social media are inadequate. Existingtechniques for causing a computer display operated by on-air talent tobe presented in a produced live video require the display to be shown inthe entire video, and lack the responsiveness and polish desired inprofessional video graphics. The creation of traditional graphicseffects for social media in a produced live video is problematic formultiple reasons. Creation of such graphics is generally done by agraphic designer by hand, and is therefore overly time consuming.Furthermore, the presentation and navigation of such graphics iscontrolled by a director, engineer, or other off-stage personnel, and soon-air talent cannot control the presentation of the graphics to goalong with an improvised delivery.

What is desired are solutions for presenting broadcast-ready on-airimages of social media content items that can be easily controlled anddirected by on-air talent while being filmed.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features ofthe claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid indetermining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In some embodiments, a method of providing graphics content forinclusion in a produced video is provided. A mobile computing deviceretrieves a set of social content items from a social media platform.The mobile computing device receives a selection of one or more socialcontent items from the set of social content items for inclusion in anon-air queue. The mobile computing device generates an on-air formatgraphic for each content item in the on-air queue. The mobile computingdevice transmits a display signal including the on-air format graphicsto be included in the produced video.

In some embodiments, a system for displaying and navigating socialcontent item graphics in a produced video is provided. The systemcomprises a talent interface engine, a video generation engine, at leastone video camera, and a video production system. The talent interfaceengine is configured to receive navigation commands from a user fornavigating an on-air queue of social content items. The video generationengine is configured to create on-air format graphics based on thecontent items in the on-air queue of content items, and generate a videographic signal that includes the on-air format graphics. The at leastone video camera is configured to generate a live video signal. Thevideo production system is configured to combine the live video signalfrom the at least one video camera and the video graphic signal from themobile computing device to generate the produced video.

In some embodiments, a nontransitory computer-readable medium havingcomputer-executable instructions stored thereon is provided. Theinstructions, in response to execution by one or more processors of amobile computing device, cause the mobile computing device to performactions for providing graphics content for inclusion in a producedvideo. The actions comprise retrieving, by the mobile computing device,a set of social content items from a social media platform; receiving,by the mobile computing device, a selection of one or more socialcontent items from the set of social content items for inclusion in anon-air queue; generating, by the mobile computing device, an on-airformat graphic for each content item in the on-air queue; andtransmitting, by the mobile computing device, a display signal includingthe on-air format graphics to be included in the produced video.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisinvention will become more readily appreciated as the same become betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description, whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram that illustrates, at a high level, anexemplary embodiment of a system for displaying and navigating socialmedia content items in a produced video according to various aspects ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates an exemplary embodiment ofthe mobile computing device in communication with one or more socialmedia platforms and a video production system according to variousaspects of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 3A-3D are a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary embodiment ofa method for inserting social media graphics into a live video feedaccording to various aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an interface used tospecify settings for a user according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a producer interfacepresented by the talent interface engine that is ready to receive a setof query parameters and a set of query settings according to variousaspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a producer interfacepresented by the talent interface engine that has received a set ofquery parameters and is presenting a content selection list for reviewby the user according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates another exemplary embodiment of a producer interfacepresented by the talent interface engine that has received a set ofquery parameters and is presenting a content selection list for reviewby the user according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a producer interfacepresented by the talent interface engine wherein a set of social contentitems have been selected by the user and placed in the on-air queueaccording to various aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates another view of the embodiment of the producerinterface illustrated in FIG. 8, wherein the on-air queue has beenreordered by the user;

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an on-air interfacepresented to the user after receiving the command to begin the on-airpresentation from the producer interface illustrated in FIG. 9 accordingto various aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an on-air interfacepresented to the user after receiving a navigation command in the on-airinterface illustrated in FIG. 10 according to various aspects of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an on-air interfacepresented to the user that includes additional interface elementsaccording to various aspects of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 13 and 14 illustrate an exemplary embodiment of interfacespresented when a user zooms in to an image for a social content itemthat includes an image according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an on-air interface thatshows additional content according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 16 is a block diagram that illustrates aspects of an exemplarycomputing device appropriate for use with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram that illustrates, at a high level, anexemplary embodiment of a system 100 for displaying and navigatingsocial media content items in a produced video according to variousaspects of the present disclosure. The system 100 allows a user 80 tosearch for and select social content items from one or more social mediaplatforms 102 using a mobile computing device 104. Social mediaplatforms 102 may include any platform by which information is publiclyshared, including but not limited to Twitter, Facebook, Vine, Pinterest,LinkedIn, Instagram, Myspace, Google+, Qzone, Sina Weibo, Habbo,Friendster, Flickr, and/or the like.

The mobile computing device 104 retrieves social content items matchingspecified search parameters from the one or more social media platforms102 via a network 90, which may include one or more of the Internet, aWAN, a LAN, a WiFi network, a cellular data network, a mobile datanetwork such as 4G or LTE, and/or the like. The mobile computing device104 then presents the retrieved social content items to the user 80 forselection and ordering in an on-air queue. The mobile computing device104 then transmits the social content items from the on-air queue to avideo production system 84 in a format suitable for presentation in aproduced video. At the same time, a video camera 82 may be filming theuser 80 and providing a live video signal including an image of the userto the video production system 84. The video production system 84combines the social content items and the live video signal to create aproduced video, which is then distributed in any suitable format to oneor more viewers 89. For example, the produced video may be a broadcastvideo signal transmitted to a television 86, cable box, and/or the like.As another example, the produced video may be a streaming video signaltransmitted to a desktop computing device 87 or a mobile computingdevice 88.

One specific, non-limiting example of the system 100 in action would beas follows. The user 80 may be a television news reporter, sometimesreferred to as “on-air talent” or simply “talent.” The on-air talent 80uses the mobile computing device 104 to query for social media contentitems, such as tweets posted on Twitter (a social media platform 102),containing a keyword or hashtag relevant to a story being reported. Themobile computing device 104 submits a query to Twitter, and performsprocessing on a set of tweets received in response. The on-air talent 80then uses the mobile computing device 104 to select and sort tweets fromthe query response into an on-air queue.

During a newscast, the on-air talent 80 places the mobile computingdevice 104 into an on-air mode. In the on-air mode, a first tweet fromthe on-air queue is transmitted in an on-air format by the mobilecomputing device 104 to the video production system 84, as is video ofthe on-air talent 80 from the video camera 82. The video productionsystem 84 combines the on-air format graphic with the video of theon-air talent 80 as, for example, an over-the-shoulder digital on-screengraphic. The on-air talent 80 then navigates through the on-air queueusing the mobile computing device 104, which causes the on-air formatgraphic in the produced video to change without further action beingtaken by a producer or engineer to manipulate the graphics. In this way,a high-quality graphic may be provided and seamlessly integrated witheven an improvised statement and/or navigation through the tweets by theon-air talent 80.

While a live broadcast newscast is described above as an example of howan embodiment of the present disclosure may be used, this example shouldnot be seen as limiting. Embodiments of the present disclosure may beused in any situation in which graphics are to be combined with livevideo and controlled by talent. For example, embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be used to produce a live video that will be recorded forlater broadcast transmission, or for live or delayed streaming over anetwork. As another example, embodiments of the present disclosure maybe used during a live presentation that is being locally simulcast, forexample, on a video wall, a projection screen, a jumbotron or otherlarge format video screen, and/or the like. Also, while graphicscombined with live video are described, in some embodiments the system100 may be used to present graphics alone. For example, the system 100may be used to provide a full-screen graphic presentation that can benavigated by the on-air talent 80 while providing a voice over.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates an exemplary embodiment ofthe mobile computing device 104 in communication with one or more socialmedia platforms 102 and a video production system 84, according tovarious aspects of the present disclosure. As illustrated, a mobilecomputing device 104 is used to communicate with the social mediaplatforms 102 and the video production system 84. In some embodiments,the mobile computing device 104 may be a touch-enabled computing devicesuch as an iPad, a Surface, an Android tablet, and/or the like, thataccesses the network 90 using a wireless connection. In someembodiments, a smaller touch-enabled computing device, like a smartphone(such as an iPhone, a Windows Phone, an Android Phone, and/or the like),a phablet (such as an iPad mini, a Kindle, and/or the like), or othersuitable mobile computing device may be used.

The mobile computing device 104 is configured to execute a socialgraphic video application 202. In some embodiments, the social graphicvideo application 202 is an “app” downloaded from an “app store” orotherwise installed on the mobile computing device 104. In someembodiments, the interface elements of the social graphic videoapplication 202 may be accessed by the user 80 using the mobilecomputing device 104, while some or all of the processing and logic isexecuted by one or more computing devices separate from the mobilecomputing device 104.

As illustrated, the social graphic video application 202 includes acontent collection engine 204, an author notification engine 206, avideo generation engine 208, and a talent interface engine 210. Asunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the word “engine,” asused herein, refers to logic embodied in hardware or softwareinstructions, which can be written in a programming language, such as C,C++, Objective-C, COBOL, JAVA™, PHP, Perl, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ruby,VBScript, ASPX, Microsoft .NET™ languages such as C#, and/or the like.An engine may be compiled into executable programs or written ininterpreted programming languages. Software engines may be callable fromother engines or from themselves. Generally, the engines describedherein refer to logical modules that can be merged with other engines,or can be divided into sub-engines. The engines can be stored in anytype of computer-readable medium or computer storage device and bestored on and executed by one or more general purpose computers, thuscreating a special purpose computer configured to provide the engine.

In some embodiments, the content collection engine 204 is configured totransmit queries via the network 90 to one or more social mediaplatforms 102 and to perform processing on social content items that arereturned by the queries. In some embodiments, the content collectionengine 204 may include separate modules for querying different socialmedia platforms 102 (for example, a Twitter module, a Facebook module,an Instagram module, and/or the like). As described further below, thecontent collection engine 204 may query and process social content itemsfrom multiple social media platforms 102, and may subsequently providethem in a consistent format for review regardless of the source socialmedia platform 102.

In some embodiments, the author notification engine 206 is configured totransmit notifications to authors of social content items that are usedby the system 100. For example, in some embodiments, the authornotification engine 206 may transmit a notification to an author of asocial content item after a broadcast-ready version of the socialcontent item has been generated and sent to the video production system84 for inclusion in a produced video. The notification may take anysuitable form, and may differ according to a user setting or theparticular social media platform 102. For example, a notification sentto the author of a tweet may include one or more of a “favorite,” aretweet, a mention, an “@reply,” or a direct message. Meanwhile, anotification sent to the author of a Facebook post may include one ormore of a “like,” a message, a comment, or a share. As another example,a notification may be sent via a separate communication medium, such asemail, a notification web page, a credit graphic, and/or via any othersuitable means.

In some embodiments, the talent interface engine 210 is configured toprovide a user interface on the mobile computing device 104 that a user80 may use to interact with the system 100. In some embodiments,interfaces produced by the talent interface engine 210 are configured tosupport touch interactions, such as swiping, taps, and/or the like. Insome embodiments, the talent interface engine 210 generates one or moreinterfaces, including interfaces that allow a user 80 to provide usersettings for the system 100, to generate and submit queries to one ormore social media platforms 102 for social content items, to selectsocial content items for an on-air queue, to arrange the on-air queue,and to navigate the on-air queue while broadcast-ready on-air formatversions of content items in the on-air queue are being provided to thevideo production system 84. Further descriptions of the interfacesgenerated by the talent interface engine 210 are provided below.

In some embodiments, the video generation engine 208 is configured toproduce broadcast-ready on-air format images based on social contentitems, and to cause the images to be transmitted in a video signal tothe video production system 84. The video signal may be transmitted fromthe mobile computing device 104 to the video production system 84 usingany suitable technique. For example, in some embodiments, the videogeneration engine 208 is configured to transmit a video stream, such asan H.264 encoded video stream, via a network protocol such as TCP/IP toa receiver coupled to the video production system 84. The receiver (notillustrated) may be coupled to the video production system 84 by an HDMIcable or other cable capable of transmitting a video and/or audiosignal. The video stream transmitted in such an embodiment may mirrorthe display of the mobile computing device 104 that is presented to theuser 80. One example of technology usable in such an embodiment isAirPlay screen mirroring provided by Apple, Inc., to mirror a display ofa mobile computing device 104 such as an iPad to produce a video signalconsumable by a video production system 84. However, in someembodiments, other technology may be used. For example, in someembodiments, hardware or software technology may be used that allows adifferent signal to be transmitted to the video production system 84than the image presented to the user 80 by the mobile computing device104. As an example of such an embodiment, in an on-air mode a produceror controller interface may include a small window that includes thebroadcast-ready on-air image, and the content of the small window istransmitted to the video production system 84 while the remainder of theinterface presents navigation controls, interaction controls, and/or thelike.

As illustrated, the mobile computing device 104 is also configured toprovide a rule data store 212, a settings data store 214, and a queuedata store 216. As understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, a“data store” as described herein may be any nontransitorycomputer-readable medium configured to store data for access by themobile computing device 104. Typically, a data store may include datastored in an organized manner in a volatile or nonvolatile memory withinthe mobile computing device 104. The social graphic video application202 is given read/write access to the volatile or nonvolatile memory byan operating system of the mobile computing device 104. One otherexample of a data store is a highly reliable, high-speed relationaldatabase management system (DBMS) executing on one or more computingdevices and accessible by the mobile computing device 104 over ahigh-speed packet switched network. However, any other suitable storagetechnique and/or device capable of providing access to the stored datain response to requests from the social graphic video application 202may be used instead of or in addition to these examples. One of ordinaryskill in the art will recognize that separate data stores describedherein may be combined into a single data store, and/or a single datastore described herein may be separated into multiple data stores,without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the rule data store 212 is configured to store aset of compliance rules for one or more social media platforms 102. Insome embodiments, the compliance rules may indicate what types of socialcontent items from a given social media platform 102 may be used by thesystem 100. In some embodiments, the compliance rules may specify aformat for creating a broadcast-ready on-air graphic for a socialcontent item from a given social media platform 102. For example, acompliance rule for Twitter may specify a location, font, and backgroundfor tweet text; a location and font for a user handle; a location for auser profile picture; and/or the like. A compliance rule may alsoinclude information that is specific to a user and not to a particularsocial media platform 102, such as a slate (or other background), a bug(or other branding information to be inserted regardless of theparticular social media platform 102), and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the settings data store 214 is configured to storesettings information for a user 80 of the system 100. For example, thesettings may include a default slate, login credentials for one or moresocial media accounts associated with the user 80, default settings forfilters such as a profanity filter or location filter, and/or the like.Further description of settings that may be stored in the settings datastore 214 for a user 80 is provided below.

In some embodiments, the queue data store 216 may be configured to storeone or more on-air queues for one or more users 80. The queue data store216 may be used in embodiments wherein the user 80 manages the on-airqueue at a point in time before it is needed for creatingbroadcast-ready on-air format graphics for transmission to the videoproduction system 84. That is, in some embodiments, a user 80 may searchfor social content items and arrange the on-air queue before it isneeded for broadcast, and the on-air queue may be saved in the queuedata store 216. In some embodiments, content items may be added to theon-air queue and stored in the queue data store 216 by a user other thanthe user 80. For example, a producer may pre-load an on-air queuethrough a web-based interface to the system 100, and the user 80 maylater review and/or revise the on-air queue before going to air. Furtherdescription of a method for selecting and organizing content items in anon-air queue is provided below.

As illustrated and described above, the engines 204, 206, 208, 210 anddata stores 212, 214, 216 are provided by a mobile computing device 104.In some embodiments, one or more of these elements may be provided by adifferent computing device. For example, one or more of the data stores212, 214, 216 could be provided by a separate computing device, and themobile computing device 104 may access the data stores on the separatecomputing device via a network. As another example, the logic andfunctionality provided by one or more of the content collection engine204 and the author notification engine 206 may be provided by a separatecomputing device, and the mobile computing device 104 may access saidfunctionality through an application programming interface (API) orother suitable technique. As still another example, the logic behind theinterfaces presented by the talent interface engine 210 may be providedby a separate computing device, while the interactive portion of theinterfaces presented by the talent interface engine 210 are provided bythe mobile computing device 104. One example of such an embodiment wouldbe if the interfaces are provided by a web app, wherein the logic isprovided by a web server while the interface is rendered by the mobilecomputing device 104.

As illustrated and described above, the content collection engine 204may submit queries directly to one or more social media platforms 102.In some embodiments, the content collection engine 204 may also submitqueries to other types of data sources. For example, the contentcollection engine 204 may submit queries to search engines other thanthe social media platforms 102 that index content on the social mediaplatforms 102. As another example, the content collection engine 204 maysubmit queries to a content aggregation service such as Tagboard thatmay collect social content items from multiple social media platforms102 and provides access to the collected items in a single location.

FIGS. 3A-3D are a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary embodiment ofa method 300 for inserting social media graphics into a live video feedaccording to various aspects of the present disclosure. From a startblock, the method 300 proceeds to a set of method steps 302 definedbetween a start terminal (“terminal A”) and an exit terminal (“terminalB”), wherein default settings in a social graphic video application areconfigured.

From terminal A (FIG. 3B), the method 300 proceeds to block 308, where atalent interface engine 210 of a social graphic video application 202receives a request to create a login account for a user 80. As describedabove, in some embodiments, the talent interface engine 210 presentsinterfaces and receives input via the mobile computing device 104. Thelogin account may be used to store preferences for the user 80 withinthe system 100, manage a subscription for the user 80 within the system100, access historical information for the user 80 such as past on-airqueues, control access to the system 100, and/or the like.

Next, the method 300 proceeds to a for loop defined between a for loopstart block 310 and a for loop end block 318. Within the for loop310-318, the method 300 includes actions for configuring the socialgraphic video application 202 to obtain social content items from agiven social media platform 102. Accordingly, from the for loop startblock 310, the method 300 proceeds to optional block 312, where thetalent interface engine 210 receives an indication of a social mediaaccount on the social media platform 102 associated with the user 80,and an indication of login credentials for the social media account.Block 312 is optional, because for some social media platforms 102, anaccount with the social media platform 102 may not be required to submitqueries for social content items (even if an account is required to postsocial content items on the social media platform 102). For example, auser 80 may submit queries and receive search results from Twitterwithout logging in with a Twitter account.

The method 300 proceeds to block 314, where the talent interface engine210 receives one or more compliance rules to be applied to contentcollected from the social media platform 102. One type of compliancerule provides a format template for presenting content from the socialmedia platform 102 in a broadcast-ready graphic that complies withcontent reuse guidelines promulgated by the social media platform 102.Multiple compliance rules may be provided for different types of contentfrom the social media platform 102. Once received, the compliance rulesmay be stored in the rule data store 212 for later use.

FIGS. 10, 11, and 13 illustrate several nonlimiting examples ofbroadcast-ready graphics that present content from tweets retrieved fromTwitter according to various aspects of the present disclosure. Theseexamples illustrate the use of compliance rules in that the tweetcontent has been arranged according to the format templates in thecompliance rules for Twitter. For example, the format template for atweet with no attached image (as seen in FIGS. 10 and 11) provides afont and location for the tweet text, a location at the lower left forthe user image, fonts and locations for the user name and user handle, alocation for the Twitter bird logo, and a font and location for theposting date. The format template may also include standard content suchas a background image, a shaded area for behind the tweet content, alogo associated with the system 100 or the broadcaster, and/or the like.As can be seen in the differences between FIGS. 10 and 11, the tweetsare presented in a consistent format, with only the content obtainedfrom the tweet changing. As another example, a different format templatemay be used for a tweet that has an attached image. As can be seen inFIG. 13, a different format template has been used, in which the tweetinformation is placed to the left side of the graphic, and the rightside of the graphic is reserved for a large version of the attachedimage. FIG. 13 also illustrates that, for a user that does not have anassociated profile image, the layout may be altered to avoid having ablank space where the profile image would otherwise be displayed.

Returning to FIG. 3B, the method 300 then proceeds to the for loop endblock 318. If the user 80 wishes to configure an additional social mediaplatform 102 for use with the system 100, the method 300 returns fromthe for loop end block 318 to the for loop start block 310. Otherwise,the method 300 proceeds to optional block 320. At optional block 320,the talent interface engine 210 receives one or more additional imagesto be used for slates and/or as additional content. For example, thetalent interface engine 210 may access photos or other images stored onthe mobile computing device 104 to be used as a user photo, abackground, a slate, a bug, a logo, or for any other use. Block 320 isoptional because, in some embodiments, a default slate or no slate maybe adequate, and/or no other additional images or content may bedesired. The additional images may be stored in the rule data store 212,where compliance rules may utilize the additional images, or in thesettings data store 214, where the images may be associated with thelogin account.

At block 322, the social graphic video application 202 stores thereceived settings in association with the login account in a settingsdata store 214. The storage of the settings allows the settings to bereused during subsequent times the user 80 accesses the social graphicvideo application 202 without having to reprogram the settings eachtime. Also, in some embodiments, the login account and stored settingsmay allow more than one user (e.g., different newscasters on differentprograms), to share a mobile computing device 104 and use differentsettings without having to reconfigure the social graphic videoapplication 202 each time the user 80 changes.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an interface used tospecify settings for a user 80 according to various aspects of thepresent disclosure. As illustrated, a Twitter account 402 is specified,and may be used to log into the associated social media platform 102 inorder to attribute searches and postings to the indicated user. Othersettings, such as a profanity filter 406 and the use of small or largefonts 404 may also be changed by using switches in the settingsinterface. As illustrated, default background images 408 and brandedslates may also be configured using the settings interface.

Returning to FIG. 3B, from block 322 the method 300 proceeds to terminalB, and from terminal B (FIG. 3A) to a set of method steps 304 definedbetween a start terminal (“terminal C”) and an exit terminal (“terminalD”) wherein a set of content items for inserting into a live video feedis selected and arranged in an on-air queue.

From terminal C (FIG. 3C), the method 300 proceeds to block 324, wherethe talent interface engine 210 receives a set of query parameters and aset of query settings. The set of query parameters may include variousterms to include in the search query that are supported by the socialmedia platform 102, such as search keywords, hashtags, Booleanoperators, and/or the like. The set of query settings are similar to thequery parameters, though in some embodiments the query settings mayinclude some settings that are applied after the results are returnedfrom the social media platform 102 instead of being applied by thesocial media platform 102 itself. Some examples of query settingsinclude but are not limited to only local posts, only posts that do notinclude profanity, only posts that are fully available to the public,only posts in a specified language, only posts of a particular type,and/or the like.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a producer interfacepresented by the talent interface engine 210 that is ready to receive aset of query parameters and a set of query settings. A search box 502 isprovided to receive the query parameters from the user 80. One or moreswitches 503 may also be provided to change query settings. In someembodiments, query settings may already have been specified along withthe other user settings. A content selection list area 504 isillustrated, but is currently empty because a query has not yet beentransmitted. An on-air queue area 506 is also empty, because no contentitems have yet been selected for inclusion in the on-air queue.

Returning to FIG. 3C, the method 300 then proceeds to a loop definedbetween a for loop start block 326 and a for loop end block 334. Withinthe for loop 326-334, the method 300 includes actions for retrieving andprocessing query results from a given social media platform 102.

From the for loop start block 326, the method 300 proceeds to block 328,where a content collection engine 204 transmits a query to the givensocial media platform 102 based on the set of query parameters and theset of query settings. Next, at block 330, the content collection engine204 applies one or more filters to a set of social content itemsreceived from the social media platform. In some embodiments, thefilters applied may be based on the set of query settings. For example,a profanity filter may be applied if a query setting indicated that itshould be used. As another example, if a query setting indicated thatonly local posts should be used and the social media platform 102 willnot perform such filtering, a filter may be applied by the contentcollection engine 204 that checks the geolocation of the received socialcontent items. At block 332, the content collection engine 204 adds theset of social content items to a content selection list. Thepresentation of the social content items in the content selection listmay change depending on filters (e.g., if a profanity filter is enabled,a social content item may be shaded to indicate the presence ofprofanity), depending on the type of item, or based on other suitablefactors.

The method 300 then proceeds to the for loop end block 334. If thecontent collection engine 204 is configured to query more than onesocial media platform 102, then the method 300 returns from the for loopend block 334 to the for loop start block 326 to process the next socialmedia platform 102. Otherwise, the method 300 proceeds to block 336.Though this description has indicated that the actions in the for loop326-334 occur in series for each social media platform 102, in someembodiments the actions in the for loop 326-334 may occur in parallelfor two or more social media platforms 102. Also, though thisdescription has indicated that the actions in the for loop 326-334 occuronce for a given social media platform 102, in some embodiments at leastsome of the actions may be repeated multiple times for a given socialmedia platform 102, including, for example, cases in which more than onepage worth of search results is desired and an additional query must betransmitted to receive an additional page worth of search results.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a producer interfacepresented by the talent interface engine 210 that has received a set ofquery parameters and is presenting a content selection list for reviewby the user 80. The search box 502 continues to display the queryparameters that were used to generate the search, and the contentselection list area 604 displays the results that were returned.

FIG. 7 illustrates another exemplary embodiment of a producer interfacepresented by the talent interface engine 210 that has received a set ofquery parameters and is presenting a content selection list for reviewby the user 80. In FIG. 7, the search has been performed for localtweets only, and with a profanity filter turned on. The contentselection list area 702 includes two social content items 704 that werefound to contain profanity, and so are presented in a darker shade thanthe other social content items in the content selection list. In someembodiments, the profanity filter may exclude the social content itemsfrom the list altogether, but as illustrated, the social content itemsmay be presented to the user 80 anyway for review so that the user 80can decide whether the social content item is appropriate for air ornot.

Returning to FIG. 3C, at block 336 the talent interface engine 210receives a selection via a producer interface of one or more socialcontent items from the content selection list to add to an on-air queue.In some embodiments, the user 80 may swipe or drag content items fromthe content selection list into the on-air queue in order to indicatethe selection. At optional block 338, the talent interface engine 210receives a selection via the producer interface of one or moreadditional content items to add to the on-air queue. The additionalcontent items may include images that were previously added to thesystem 100 while configuring settings, such as slates, interstitialimages to be displayed between social content items, and/or the like.Block 338 is optional because in some embodiments, no additional contentitems may be desired, and in some embodiments, the ability to specifyadditional content items that are not social content items returned inthe search may not be provided.

The method 300 then proceeds to block 340, where the talent interfaceengine 210 receives a command via the producer interface to reorder oneor more items in the on-air queue. The commands for reordering items maybe provided using any suitable technique or gesture, such as draggingand dropping, swiping, tapping a forward/back control, and/or the like.The commands for reordering items may include commands for removingitems from the on-air queue. A deletion command may be provided usingany suitable technique or gesture, such as swiping, single- ordouble-tapping a delete control, and/or the like.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a producer interfacepresented by the talent interface engine 210 wherein a set of socialcontent items have been selected by the user 80 and placed in the on-airqueue. As stated above, the social content items may be dragged from thecontent selection list area into the on-air queue area. The on-air queueis ordered, such that the first content item 802 will be the first itemin the list, the second content item 804 will be the second item in thelist, the third content item 806 will be the third item in the list, andso on. During an on-air presentation, the user 80 may navigate forwardand backward through the on-air queue. FIG. 9 illustrates another viewof the embodiment of the producer interface illustrated in FIG. 8,wherein the on-air queue has been reordered by the user 80. Asillustrated in FIG. 9, the item that was previously the first contentitem 802 is now the second content item 904, and the item that waspreviously the second content item 804 is now the first content item902.

The method 300 then proceeds to terminal D, and from terminal D (FIG.3A) to a set of method steps 306 defined between a start terminal(“terminal E”) and an exit terminal (“terminal F”), whereinbroadcast-ready graphics for the content items in the on-air queue aregenerated and navigated while being inserted into the live video feed.

From terminal E (FIG. 3D), the method 300 proceeds to block 342, wherethe talent interface engine 210 receives a command via the producerinterface to begin an on-air presentation. In some embodiments, thecommand to begin the on-air presentation could be as simple as a singletap or click on the “live” button in the upper right-hand corner. Thisis significant because that one tap or click initiates the remainder ofthe processing discussed below, thus making it seem to the user 80 as ifthe social content items are formatted and made broadcast-ready solelyat their control with a single tap or click.

At block 344, the talent interface engine 210 generates abroadcast-ready on-air format for a content item from the on-air queueusing one or more compliance rules. In some embodiments, the compliancerules are retrieved from the rule data store 212 based on a typeassociated with the content item. For example, a first compliance rulemay be retrieved for a text-only tweet, while a second compliance rulemay be retrieved for a tweet that includes text and an image, and athird compliance rule may be retrieved for an Instagram post. Asdiscussed above, a compliance rule may include a format template, anddata from the content item may be inserted into the format template inappropriate locations in order to generate the broadcast-ready on-airformat. A broadcast-ready on-air format is typically of a highresolution, is legible even at a distance, has colors that areappropriate for inclusion in a video broadcast, and/or may otherwise beof high enough quality to be included in the produced video.

At block 346, a video generation engine 208 transmits the on-air formatof the content item to a video production system 84. As discussed above,in some embodiments, the video generation engine 208 transmits a videostream from the mobile computing device 104 via a wireless network to areceiving device coupled to the video production system 84, and thereceiving device may provide a high-definition video signal to the videoproduction system 84. In some embodiments, other techniques may be usedto transmit video to the video production system 84. In someembodiments, the video stream may include audio, particularly in caseswhere a social content item may include a video with sound.

At this point in the method 300, the video production system 84 combinesthe video stream received from the video generation engine 208 with avideo stream from the video camera 82 in order to create the producedvideo. The video generation engine 208 may combine the video streamsusing any suitable technique known to one of ordinary skill in the art,including but not limited to compositing techniques (such as chromakey,lumakey, and/or the like), digital video effects, and/or any othersuitable technique. Accordingly, the produced video includes the on-airformat of the content item.

In some embodiments, the video generation engine 208 provides a videostream that is substantially the same as the on-air interface beingpresented to the user 80 on the mobile computing device 104. FIG. 10illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an on-air interface presented tothe user 80 after receiving the command to begin the on-air presentationfrom the producer interface illustrated in FIG. 9. The on-air interface1002 presents the first item from the on-air queue, and the videogeneration engine 208 transmits a video stream that mirrors the on-airinterface 1002 to the video production system 84.

In some embodiments, the on-air interface presented by the mobilecomputing device 104 may include additional interface elements that arenot included in the video stream provided by the video generation engine208. These additional interface elements may allow the user 80 toperform tasks associated with the displayed content item. FIG. 12illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an on-air interface presented tothe user 80 that includes additional interface elements according tovarious aspects of the present disclosure. The on-air interface 1202includes a reply button 1204, a retweet button 1206, and a favoritebutton 1208, thus allowing the user 80 to easily perform these actionswhile on the air. The video generation engine 208 omits the interfaceelements 1204, 1206, 1208 from the video signal transmitted to the videoproduction system 84.

At block 348, the talent interface engine 210 receives a navigationcommand via the on-air interface presented on the mobile computingdevice 104. The navigation command may be selected from commands such asforward (to display the next item in the on-air queue), back (to displaya previous item in the on-air queue), zoom-in (to display mediaassociated with the social content item in a larger format), zoom out(to return from a display of associated media to a display of the socialcontent item itself), play (to begin automatically navigating from onecontent item to the next content item), pause (to stop automaticnavigation), and exit (to end the on-air display and return to theproducer interface). The navigation command may be indicated a touchgesture that intuitively indicates the desired navigation. For example,forward may be indicated by a swipe in one direction, back may beindicated by a swipe in the opposite direction, zoom-in may be indicatedby a tap on a portion of the graphic to zoom in on or a pinch-to-zoomgesture, zoom-out may likewise be indicated by a tap on a zoomed-inimage or a pinch-to-zoom gesture, and/or the like. Some navigationgestures may be less intuitive in order to eliminate the chances thatthe gesture would be input or detected accidentally. For example, thegesture for exit may be an advanced or complicated gesture such as atriple tap in order to avoid inadvertently returning to the producerinterface while on the air.

The method 300 then proceeds to optional block 350, where an authornotification engine 206 transmits a notification to an author of thecontent item indicating that the content item was included in a producedvideo. The notification may be sent after receiving the navigationcommand, as opposed sending the notification after the social contentitem is included in an on-air graphic, in order to give the user 80 morecontrol over when the notification is transmitted. In some embodiments,the author notification engine 206 may not transmit the notificationsimmediately, but may instead queue notifications for review andtransmission after exiting on-air mode.

The method 300 then proceeds to a decision block 352, where adetermination is made regarding whether the received navigation commandwas an exit command. If the result of the determination at decisionblock 352 is NO, then the method 300 returns to block 344, and blocks344-350 are repeated for the next appropriate content item based on thereceived navigation command.

In some embodiments, the on-air interface presented by the talentinterface engine 210 may include more than navigation functionality. Forexample, in some embodiments, the talent interface engine 210 may detecta gesture such as a tap-and-hold, long press, or other gesturedistinguishable from the navigation gestures in order to enter an inputmode. In the input mode, further gestures may be translated into drawingcommands, and lines drawn by the user 80 in this mode may be added tothe video stream in order to emphasize or otherwise refer to portions ofthe on-air graphic.

If the result of the determination at decision block 352 is YES, thenthe method 300 proceeds to block 354, where the video generation engine208 stops transmitting on-air format graphics to the video productionsystem 84. At this point, in some embodiments, the video stream from thevideo generation engine 208 to the video production system 84 stops, andthe video production system 84 ceases using the video stream in theproduced video. In some embodiments, the video stream may continue to besent by the video generation engine 208, but it may only include a slateor the producer interface. In some embodiments, the video stream may besent by the video generation engine 208 before, during, and after themethod 300 as described, and the director may only choose to incorporatethe video stream into the produced video when appropriate. This issimilar to the use of other video sources in video production, such asvideo feeds from multiple cameras that are continually sent to the videoproduction system 84 but that are not all used at the same time.

At block 356, the talent interface engine 210 returns to presenting theproducer interface to the user 80, so that the user 80 may proceed toexecute another query, rearrange the on-air queue, or otherwise repeatother portions of the method 300. From block 356, the method 300proceeds to terminal F, and from terminal F (FIG. 3A) to an end block,where the method 300 terminates.

FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrate an exemplary embodiment of how a user 80would navigate through the on-air queue illustrated in FIG. 9 accordingto various aspects of the present disclosure. In FIG. 10, the firstcontent item 902 from the on-air queue is illustrated in the on-airinterface 1002. Upon detecting a forward command (such as a swipe fromright to left), the interface would transition from FIG. 10 to FIG. 11,where the on-air interface 1102 displays the second content item 904from the on-air queue. At this point, a back command (such as a swipefrom left to right) would cause the interface to transition back to theon-air interface 1002 illustrated in FIG. 10. The transitions from oneinterface to the next interface may use any suitable technique, such asan animation that sends the first interface out in the direction of theswipe and brings the second interface in from the direction of theswipe, a cut, a fade in/out, a dissolve, a wipe, a morph, or any othersuitable technique.

FIGS. 13 and 14 illustrate an exemplary embodiment of interfacespresented when a user zooms in to an image for a social content itemthat includes an image according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure. In FIG. 13, the on-air interface 1302 shows the body of atweet 1304 and an image 1306 associated with the tweet. Upon receiving azoom-in command (such as a tap, click, or pinch-to-zoom), the on-airinterface transitions to the on-air interface 1402 illustrated in FIG.14, wherein a larger version of the image is presented. Upon receiving azoom-out command (such as a tap, click, or pinch-to-zoom), the on-airinterface transitions back to the on-air interface 1302 illustrated inFIG. 13.

FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an on-air interface 1502that shows additional content according to various aspects of thepresent disclosure. As illustrated, a broadcaster logo 1504, anadvertisement 1506, and an identification 1508 of the user 80 are alldisplayed. In some embodiments, the entire interface 1502 may beprovided as a static image. In some embodiments, the layout of theinterface 1502 may be specified similar to the specification ofcompliance rules, and some portions (such as the advertisement 1506 andthe identification 1508 of the user 80) may be dynamically filled in byretrieving information from other portions of the system 100.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram that illustrates aspects of an exemplarycomputing device 1600 appropriate for use with embodiments of thepresent disclosure. While FIG. 16 is described with reference to acomputing device that is implemented as a device on a network, thedescription below is applicable to servers, personal computers, mobilephones, smart phones, tablet computers, embedded computing devices, andother devices that may be used to implement portions of embodiments ofthe present disclosure. Moreover, those of ordinary skill in the art andothers will recognize that the computing device 1600 may be any one ofany number of currently available or yet to be developed devices.

In its most basic configuration, the computing device 1600 includes atleast one processor 1602 and a system memory 1604 connected by acommunication bus 1606. Depending on the exact configuration and type ofdevice, the system memory 1604 may be volatile or nonvolatile memory,such as read only memory (“ROM”), random access memory (“RAM”), EEPROM,flash memory, or similar memory technology. Those of ordinary skill inthe art and others will recognize that system memory 1604 typicallystores data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible toand/or currently being operated on by the processor 1602. In thisregard, the processor 1602 may serve as a computational center of thecomputing device 1600 by supporting the execution of instructions.

As further illustrated in FIG. 16, the computing device 1600 may includea network interface 1610 comprising one or more components forcommunicating with other devices over a network. Embodiments of thepresent disclosure may access basic services that utilize the networkinterface 1610 to perform communications using common network protocols.The network interface 1610 may also include a wireless network interfaceconfigured to communicate via one or more wireless communicationprotocols, such as WiFi, 2G, 3G, LTE, WiMAX, Bluetooth, and/or the like.

In the exemplary embodiment depicted in FIG. 16, the computing device1600 also includes a storage medium 1608. However, services may beaccessed using a computing device that does not include means forpersisting data to a local storage medium. Therefore, the storage medium1608 depicted in FIG. 16 is represented with a dashed line to indicatethat the storage medium 1608 is optional. In any event, the storagemedium 1608 may be volatile or nonvolatile, removable or nonremovable,implemented using any technology capable of storing information such as,but not limited to, a hard drive, solid state drive, CD ROM, DVD, orother disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage, and/or the like.

As used herein, the term “computer-readable medium” includes volatileand non-volatile and removable and non-removable media implemented inany method or technology capable of storing information, such ascomputer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, orother data. In this regard, the system memory 1604 and storage medium1608 depicted in FIG. 16 are merely examples of computer-readable media.

Suitable implementations of computing devices that include a processor1602, system memory 1604, communication bus 1606, storage medium 1608,and network interface 1610 are known and commercially available. Forease of illustration and because it is not important for anunderstanding of the claimed subject matter, FIG. 16 does not show someof the typical components of many computing devices. In this regard, thecomputing device 1600 may include input devices, such as a keyboard,keypad, mouse, microphone, touch input device, touch screen, tablet,and/or the like. Such input devices may be coupled to the computingdevice 1600 by wired or wireless connections including RF, infrared,serial, parallel, Bluetooth, USB, or other suitable connectionsprotocols using wireless or physical connections. Similarly, thecomputing device 1600 may also include output devices such as a display,speakers, printer, etc. Since these devices are well known in the art,they are not illustrated or described further herein.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the specific routinesdescribed above in the flowcharts may represent one or more of anynumber of processing strategies such as event-driven, interrupt-driven,multi-tasking, multi-threading, and the like. As such, various acts orfunctions illustrated may be performed in the sequence illustrated, inparallel, or in some cases omitted. Likewise, the order of processing isnot necessarily required to achieve the features and advantages, but isprovided for ease of illustration and description. Although notexplicitly illustrated, one or more of the illustrated acts or functionsmay be repeatedly performed depending on the particular strategy beingused. Further, these FIGURES may graphically represent code to beprogrammed into a computer readable storage medium associated with acomputing device.

While illustrative embodiments have been illustrated and described, itwill be appreciated that various changes can be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:
 1. A method of providinggraphics content for inclusion in a produced video, the methodcomprising: retrieving, by a mobile computing device, a set of socialcontent items from a social media platform; receiving, by the mobilecomputing device, a selection of one or more social content items fromthe set of social content items for inclusion in an on-air queue;generating, by the mobile computing device, an on-air format graphic foreach content item in the on-air queue; and transmitting, by the mobilecomputing device, a display signal including the on-air format graphicsto be included in the produced video.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereintransmitting the display signal including the on-air format graphicscomprises: transmitting, by the mobile computing device, a displaysignal including an on-air format graphic associated with a content itemin the on-air queue; receiving, by the mobile computing device from auser, a navigation command to move from the content item in the on-airqueue to a different content item in the on-air queue; and transmitting,by the mobile computing device, a display signal including an on-airformat graphic associated with the different content item in the on-airqueue.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the produced video is a livevideo of the user providing the navigation command.
 4. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the navigation command is selected from the groupconsisting of a forward command, a back command, a zoom-in command, azoom-out command, a play command, and a stop command.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the produced video is a broadcast television video or alive streaming video.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving theset of social content items from the social media platform includes:receiving, by the mobile computing device, a set of query parameters;and transmitting, by the mobile computing device to the social mediaplatform, a query based on the set of query parameters.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein retrieving the set of social content items from thesocial media platform further includes applying, by the mobile computingdevice, one or more compliance rules to a set of social content itemsreceived from the social media platform.
 8. The method of claim 1,further comprising ceasing transmission of the display signal thatincludes on-air format graphics upon detection of a complex gesture by auser.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the complex gesture is atriple-tap.
 10. A system for displaying and navigating social contentitem graphics in a produced video, the system comprising: a talentinterface engine configured to receive navigation commands from a userfor navigating an on-air queue of social content items; and a videogeneration engine configured to: create on-air format graphics based onthe content items in the on-air queue of content items; and generate avideo graphic signal that includes the on-air format graphics; at leastone video camera configured to generate a live video signal; and a videoproduction system configured to combine the live video signal from theat least one video camera and the video graphic signal from the mobilecomputing device to generate the produced video.
 11. The system of claim10, wherein the live video signal generated by the video camera includesa live image of the user from whom navigation commands are received. 12.The system of claim 10, further comprising a content collection engineconfigured to: receive a set of query parameters from the user; transmita query based on the set of query parameters to a social media platform;and receive a set of social content items from the social mediaplatform.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the talent interfaceengine, the content collection engine, and the video generation engineare provided by a mobile computing device.
 14. The system of claim 12,wherein the talent interface engine is provided by a mobile computingdevice, and at least one of the content collection engine and the videogeneration engine is provided by a computing device other than themobile computing device.
 15. The system of claim 12, wherein the talentinterface engine is further configured to: present the received set ofsocial content items to the user; and receive a selection of one or moresocial content items from the presented set of social content items forinclusion in the on-air queue.
 16. The system of claim 10, wherein thevideo production system is configured to combine the live video signaland the video graphic signal using digital video effects or compositing.17. The system of claim 10, further comprising an author notificationengine configured to transmit a notification to an author of a givensocial content item once the given social content item is included inthe produced video.
 18. A nontransitory computer-readable medium havingcomputer-executable instructions stored thereon that, in response toexecution by one or more processors of a mobile computing device, causethe mobile computing device to perform actions for providing graphicscontent for inclusion in a produced video, the actions comprising:retrieving, by the mobile computing device, a set of social contentitems from a social media platform; receiving, by the mobile computingdevice, a selection of one or more social content items from the set ofsocial content items for inclusion in an on-air queue; generating, bythe mobile computing device, an on-air format graphic for each contentitem in the on-air queue; and transmitting, by the mobile computingdevice, a display signal including the on-air format graphics to beincluded in the produced video.
 19. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 18, wherein transmitting the display signal including the on-airformat graphics comprises: transmitting, by the mobile computing device,a display signal including an on-air format graphic associated with acontent item in the on-air queue; receiving, by the mobile computingdevice from a user, a navigation command to move from the content itemin the on-air queue to a different content item in the on-air queue; andtransmitting, by the mobile computing device, a display signal includingan on-air format graphic associated with the different content item inthe on-air queue.
 20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, whereinretrieving the set of social content items from the social mediaplatform includes: receiving, by the mobile computing device, a set ofquery parameters; and transmitting, by the mobile computing device tothe social media platform, a query based on the set of query parameters.